Wednesday, 8 April 2009

Reality Tv - Dr Who !

I was asked to supply four illustrations for a Doctor Who Magazine feature about alien invasion. The subjects chosen were the Cyberking from the latest Christmas Special episode , the Autons ( a groovy 1970's menace) , the Lochness monster ( the rather formidable Zygon pet) and The Daleks of course - from the latest incarnation of the show. The deadline was under a week and the Dalek spread stretched over two pages - so even if I drew it print size ( which I did) - time was very tight

The office supplied me screenshots of the Cyberking ( a cgi construct) . Whilst these were a mighty help they lacked alot of detail - personal interpretation the obvious answer. This one ended up having a chunky Mick McMahon look and was all the better for it. I loved drawing the Autons best. I skimmed through the Target novelisation looking for a suitable scene. I didn't want to just show 'em crashing through a shop window - but actually facing the Army ( which we never see in SPEARHEAD FROM SPACE but it's in the book). The Lochness Monster was arguably the trickiest - trying to fit in all the elements including the Zygon tracker drove me a little nuts - the addition of a filter on the monsters flesh made me very happy in the end. The Daleks had to pencilled in an evening and inked/coloured the next day. I used the clone brush to add extra Daleks to the sky. To me it's the least successful because frankly the deadline wasn't enough for my exacting standards.I inked the majority of these with a brush pen ( crudely in places) before scanning on and adding solid blacks before colouring.I enjoyed the frenetic pace of decision.

I genuinely loved doing this job - reminded of the time I had to do some new Dr Who Weetabix cards for the magazine. I guess I'm just a 1970's Auton boy at heart. Can you spot the mistake in the Auton pencils and final piece? The pace was that mental...

Rob - the rush made me think quick , swear alot and take chances. I'd never used a brush pen before and started weilding it with abandon -lol I cleaned bits up in 'shop and left stuff - it was kinda a crazy week. I'm trying to do more things like that because it shows that ultimately it's your ideas that count - not how polished you are. Thanks for the compliments - I can send you a higher res copy if you really want to run off a print - you can send me your Charge of the Light Brigade 'cos that blows me away!

As recently I've been staying up working on inking and penciling and watercoloring at a frenetic pace (set by myself) I have to say the extent of your genius makes it possible that there is no indication of any rush on these! I remember seeing them in DWM and they're even more gorgeous lined up like that in this blog. Woo!

Hi Patrick - sorry for the late response. I tend to work both ways these days. If I draw on paper I ink on paper too. If I draw digitally in Manga Studio I ink in that programme. Depends on the job and my mood!